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Record of Conference at Newport. 





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RECORD OF CONFERENCE 

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OF THE 


Civil Service Reform Associations t 

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HELD AT NEWPORT, R.I. 


On THURSDAY, AUGUST ii, i88i. 


BOSTON: 

Printed by Geo. H. Ellis, 141 Franklin Street. 
1881. 



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RECORD OF CONFERENCE. 


A Conference of the Civil Service Reform Associa¬ 
tions of the United States was held at the Ocean 
House, Newport, R.I., on Thursday, Aug. ii, i88i, at 
3.30 P.M., in pursuance of the following invitation 
issued by the New York Association; — 


Office of 

The Civil Service Reform Association, 
44 Pine Street. 


New York, July 29, 1881. 


Dear Sir ^—You are invited to attend a private and informal 
Conference, to be held at the Ocean House, Newport, R.I., at 
2.30 P.M., on Thursday, the nth of August, and to be continued 
on the following day, should circumstances seem to render it 
desirable. 

It is hoped that all the Associations directly engaged in the 
work of Civil Service Reform may be represented, and that an 
interchange of views, as to measures and methods, may do much 
to promote the movement now happily so well advanced. 

For any farther particulars, please address William W. 
Vaughan, Esq., 53 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass. 


Yours very truly. 


WILLIAM POTTS, 

Secretary. 




4 


The following gentlemen were present: — 

Fro 7 n the Baltunore Association : Charles J. Bonaparte, 
George S. Brown, George B. Cole. 

From the Boston Association: N. Willis Bumstead, 
Charles R. Codman, H. W. Chaplin, George G. Crocker, 
Richard H. Dana, Jr., B. Frank Hatch, Augustus Hemen- 
way, Arthur Hobart, Francis A. Osborn, William Simes, 
Edwin L. Sprague, Henry H. Sprague, James P. Tolman, 
William Watson, Charles Weil, Samuel Wells, Thomas J. 
Whidden, Roger Wolcott. 

From the Buffalo Association : Henry W. Sprague. 

From the Brookly7i Association : John M. Comstock. 

From the Ca77ibridge Associatio7i: John Conlan, John C. 
Dodge, Edwin B. Hale, Edmund M. Parker, Charles Theo¬ 
dore Russell, William W. Vaughan, Morrill Wyman, Jr. 

Fro77i the Cincinnati Association: Charles W. Wendte. 

Fro7n the New York Association: Alfred G. Brown, Silas 
W. Burt, George William Curtis, Dorman B. Eaton, Or¬ 
lando B. Potter, William Potts, William Cary Sanger, Carl 
Schurz, William H. Thomson, Everett P. Wheeler, F. W. 
Whittredge. 

Fro7n the Philadelphia Association: J. A. Harris, Wil¬ 
liam W. Montgomery, C. Stuart Patterson, J. G. Rosen- 
garten, Samuel Wagner, Charles Wheeler. 

Fro77i the Pittsb7irgh Associatio7i: C. A. Carpenter, C. J. 
Hillard, N. McClarran, William J. Pier. 

From the Provide7tce Associatio7t: George Metcalf. 

From the St. Louis Association : Henry Hitchcock. 

Fro77t the Springfield (Mass.) Associatioti: Talcott Wil¬ 
liams. 


5 


From the West Newto7i{JS'Iass^ Association: Henry Lam¬ 
bert, F. F. Raymond, I. N. Tarbox. 

At large: F. L. Hosmer, Cleveland, O.; James De Nor¬ 
mandie, Portsmouth, N.H.; Samuel R. Honey, E. Tweedy. 

The Conference was opened by Mr. Everett P. 
Wheeler, of New York. Mr. George William Curtis, 
of New York, was chosen to preside, and Mr. Arthur 
Hobart, of Boston, to be secretary. Upon taking the 
chair, Mr. Curtis said that this was the first National 
Conference ever called upon the subject of Civil Ser¬ 
vice Reform. Local organizations existed, and it had 
been thought best to call them together from the dif¬ 
ferent sections of the country for the purpose of inter¬ 
changing ideas. Mr. Curtis introduced the following 
resolution, which was adopted : — 

I. 

Resolved, That the bill mtrodiiced in the Seriate by 
Mr. Pendleto7i., of Ohio, provides a co7istitutional, practi¬ 
cable, a7id effective measure for the re77iedy of the abuse 
know7i as the spoils system, and that the Associatio7is rep7'e- 
sented in this Co7ifere7ice will use every honorable mea7is, 
m the p7'ess, on the platform, a7id by petitmi, to secure its 
passage by Co7igress. 

Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, of New York, thought the 
provisions of the bill should be made known to the 
public. 

Mr. Curtis urged the petitioning of Congress in 
favor of the passage of the bill, and recommended 
that it be printed and circulated as widely as possilile. 


6 


Mr. Roger Wolcott, of Boston, stated that the Bos¬ 
ton Association had taken steps toward the publica¬ 
tion, in cheap form, of one hundred thousand copies of 
the Pendleton Bill for distribution throughout the 
State of Massachusetts. 

Mr. Carl Schurz said that he considered it essential 
to impress on inquirers the simple fact that Pendleton 
proposed a plan already practically successful in the 
New York Post-office and Custom-house, and in the 
Interior Department. 

Mr. Dorman B. Eaton offered a resolution, which 
was adopted, as follows: — 

II. 

Resolved, That we regard it as an important part of 
a system of competitive examinations that there should be 
local examinations at various points convenient for those 
who might wish to be exammed for the different States, 
these examinations and the local boards by which they may 
be conducted to be under the supervisio7i of the National 
Civil Service Commission. 

Dr. J. A. Harris, of Philadelphia, submitted a plan 
for perfecting the organization of the Civil Service 
Reform movement by the establishment of a central 
National Association, but withdrew his resolution in 
favor of the following, which was presented by Mr. 
Schurz, and adopted : — 

III. 

Resolved, That the several Civil Service Reform Asso¬ 
ciations here represented be invited to form a national 



7 


organization under the name of the National Civil Service 
Reform League for the purpose of servmg as a centre of 
correspondence and of facilitating such united actio 7 i as 
circumstances may demand. And that the Executive Com¬ 
mittee of the Civil Service Reform Associatioft at.. . is 
hereby authorized to act as a provisional central cofnmittee 
of the said league., afid that the several Civil Service 
Reform Associations be 7‘equested to designate one persofi 
each to be a 7nember of said provisional central committee. 

On motion of Mr. Patterson, of Philadelphia, 

It was voted to fill the blank in the resolution by 
inserting the words “ New York.” 

In regard to the new organization, Mr. Schurz said 
that, small as the beginning might be, the movement 
commenced a work in its purpose and extent compara¬ 
ble only with the work of the Anti-Corn Law League 
in England. 

Dr. William H. Thomson, of New York, offered a 
resolution regarding the formation of Associations 
in Congressional districts, which he withdrew on the 
presentation of a substitute by Col. Alfred G. Brown, 
of New York. 

Mr. H. W. Chaplin, of Boston, thought that Associa¬ 
tions could be more easily organized at natural centres 
of population. 

Mr. Curtis pointed to the time when it might be 
necessary to make active adherence to the reform by 
a Congressional candidate the indispensable condition 
of obtaining the voting support of reformers. 


8 


Mr. Eaton was opposed to any policy which should 
take the Associations into politics before nominations 
were made, and insisted upon the maintenance of non- 
partisanship in the movement, according to a proviso 
to that effect standing in the constitution of every 
Association. 

Mr. Henry Hitchcock, of St. Louis, explained how 
indispensable it was that Congress should be “ led ” 
or “ driven ” into action on Civil Service Reform, and 
urged direct labor with individual Congressmen. 

Mr. J. C. Dodge, of Cambridge, Mass., said that the 
recent agitation had struck the Massachusetts Con¬ 
gressmen, and that they were all writing letters on 
the subject. 

After some discussion, Mr. Schurz presented a sub¬ 
stitute for Col. Brown’s resolution, being a slight modi¬ 
fication of the former, and it was adopted as follows : 

IV. 

Resolved, That we consider the organization of Civil 
Service Reform Associations auxiliary to the National 
Civil Service Reform League^ m eve^y Co?igressional dis¬ 
trict, highly desirable for the promotio7i of our objects; 
and we request the existing Associations to apply their 
e7iergies and mfluence to that end. 

The following resolution was offered by Mr. Wheeler, 
of New York, and was adopted : — 

V. 

Resolved, That the bill introduced in the House of 
Representatives of the U7iited States, by Mr. Willis, of 


9 


Kentucky^ at the last session of Congress^ provides practi¬ 
cable and judicious measures for the remedy of the abuse 
known as political assessments^ and that the Associations 
represented in this Conference will use every honorable 
means^ in the press, on the platform, and by petition, to 
secure its passage by Congress. 

The following resolution was offered by Mr. F. W. 
Whittredge, of New York : — 

Resolved, That we favor a return, in future appoint¬ 
ments, to the original constitutional tenure, which was 
one during efficiency and good behavior to all subordi¬ 
nate, executive, and territorial-judicial officers, and 
therefore favor the repeal of all laws by which the 
tenure of such offices has been reduced to a term of 
years. 

The first action of the Conference upon this resolu¬ 
tion indicated an almost unanimous approval of it 
upon principle. 

It was strongly opposed by Mr. Orlando B. Potter, 
of New York, who thought it practically a resolve in 
favor of life-tenure, which, in his opinion, was undesir¬ 
able. He also thought the Conference would be sup¬ 
ported by the people in its action up to the present 
resolution, and that it would be injudicious to proceed 
further. 

Col. Charles R. Codman, of Boston, was not willing 
to vote for the resolution without knowing more cer¬ 
tainly to what officers it would or would not apply. 


1 


10 


Mr. R. H. Dana, Jr., of Boston, believed that the 
ground was sufficiently covered by the Pendleton bill. 

Mr. Schurz said that it was his experience that 
removals and changes were very rarely made for the 
sake of removal or change: that they came as the 
fruit of pressure for spoils. Capacity and efficiency 
having been made the requisite in office-holding, subor¬ 
dinate places to be entered only by competitive exami¬ 
nation, the legal length of official tenure would be 
found to be less important than it now appeared. 
Mr. Schurz offered the following as a substitute for 
Mr. Whittredge’s resolution, and it was adopted : — 

VI. 

Resolved, That we are uncompromismgly opposed to 
arbitrary removals from office^ as well as to all interference 
by members of Congress with the exercise of the appointing 
power. 

It was voted,, That the matter of an address to the 
people on the subject of Civil Service Reform be 
referred to the National Civil Service Reform League 
with full powers. 

It was also voted, That the Secretary of the Confer¬ 
ence be requested to send a printed copy of the min¬ 
utes of the Conference to the secretary of every Civil 
Service Reform Association. 

On motion of Mr. Patterson, 

It was voted, That the thanks of the Conference be 


II 


presented to the presiding officer for having conducted 
the Conference in a manner so highly conducive to its 
success. 

On motion of Mr. Wheeler, 

It was voted^ That the expenses of the Conference 
and of the Central Committee (National League) be 
defrayed by a pro rata assessment upon the members 
of the National League. 

A motion to adjourn to ten o’clock the following 
day was lost, and it was voted to adjourn sine die. 

In a few closing sentences, Mr. Curtis made use of 
these words : “ We have laid our hands on the barbaric 
palace of patronage, and begun to write on its walls, 
""Mene., mene!' Nor, I believe, will the work end till 
they are laid in the dust.” 

ARTHUR HOBART, 

Secretary. 



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